Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 35

I took aback at those words. There was a strange expression across his face that was incomprehensible for me to understand.

    "R-really?" I questioned hesitantly, breaking the brief yet eerie silence between us.

"I'm probably just being illusional," Sirius muttered, mostly talking to himself. He shook his head briskly, and finally tore his gaze away from me.

Although just then, his eyes fell upon Crookshanks's basket which Hermione was carrying in her hands, the look on his face suddenly softening.

"Here, give Crookshanks to me," Sirius offered with a little smile, moving forward to gently take the cat's basket from Hermione. "I'll take care of her."

    After opening Crookshanks's basket and setting the cat free, Sirius led us all upstairs and proceeded to show us to the guest rooms.

The Grimmauld place was so much bigger than the Burrow that we fitted well into the rooms. Hermione, Ginny, and I got an enormous place to ourselves and Fred's and George's room was next to ours.

Bill and Charlie had joined us as well and took a whole room to themselves. Although they were only planning on staying at Grimmauld Place temporarily, seeing as they both had to leave soon and attend to the Order's business.

That afternoon, Mrs. Weasley made lunch earlier than she usually did, probably because the Order meeting was going to take place in a few short hours.

     Remus Lupin had joined us before the meeting as well, and I was ever so excited to meet him as well.

"How about you all go and take a nap?" Mrs. Weasley suggested kindly after we were done eating. "I'm sure you're tired."

"Yeah, good idea." Ron yawned, standing up from the table along with the rest of us.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us you were a Muggle, Lexi!" George told me quietly as we left the kitchen and made our way up the stairs. He seemed slightly annoyed, and yet excited about the matter.

"Well, to be fair, I did tell Fred," I tried to reason, a grin tucking at the edge of my lips.

     "What!? How come him and not me!?" George retorted.

     "Well, there's gotta be a difference between you and her boyfriend!" Ginny grinned, catching us all off guard.

     "What?" I gulped.

     "How did you find out!?" Fred exclaimed.

     But instead of hearing Ginny's explanation, her eyes widened. "Hang on! Are you guys seriously together!? I was just trying to tease you and kid around! I didn't know you were actually together!"

     Fred and I gulped and gave each other a look sideways, but then he shrugged and said, "Meh, now that the cat's out of the bag," by that he threw an arm over my shoulder and placed a gentle kiss on my temple.

     "Wow, congratulations, you guys," Hermione smiled.

"Anyway," Ginny started. "What were you doing in the classes if you're a Muggle, then?"

"Oh, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick gave all terrible sorts of excuses," said Hermione. "Like her wand wasn't working, or her wrist was hurt. And when they had no other idea, they would just send her outside to get them something from the staff room."

"So you suspected me?" I asked.

"Well, I did at first," said Hermione. "But then there were some stuff that threw me off."

"Like what?" Ron asked.

"For one, she was so good at potions." Hermione shrugged. "I didn't expect a Muggle to be able to do it all that."

I grinned proudly to myself. "Well, Potions and Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures weren't a problem, really. I just couldn't keep up with transfigurations and charms that needed constant wand work."

"Well, there was something else too," Hermione continued.

"What?" I raised a brow.

"Muggles can't see Hogwarts," said Hermione as we finally reached our floor. "They'll just see a big land of ruins with a sign saying 'danger'. Haven't you ever read Hogwarts: A History?"

"Now come to think of it," Ginny started. "You could see the Knight Bus too, couldn't you, Lexi?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "Trust me, I'm just as oblivious as you guys about this whole thing. But I'll ask Dumbledore tonight."

Everyone started to head towards their rooms, but then I stopped and cleared my throat, getting Fred's attention before he could go in his room with George.

"What?" he raised a brow and I gave him a knowing look. "Oh! Right!" he then turned to George and said, "I'll come back in a bit."

George gave us a grin and winked, before getting into the room and closing the door behind him. I rolled my eyes but then grabbed Fred's hand, leading him downstairs.

"Uh... where are you taking me exactly, Lex?"

"Dunno," I shrugged. "Just wanna see this place."

We searched all the dusty halls in the place, but Fred and I finally got into an empty parlor and sat down on the old couch.

I laid on the couch and placed my head on his lap and he started playing with my hair. "Your hair smells like cherries. Did I tell you that?"

"You might have mentioned it, yeah." I giggled, remembering that he had said the same thing at the Yule Ball.

"So..." he started, his hand still playing with my wavy brown hair. "You know everything about our future, do you?"

"Pretty much."

"So can you tell me if George and I will get our joke shop?"

I smiled, but shook my head. "I can't tell you anything."

"Why not?"

"Because Dumbledore says it might change the outcome." I answered. "And we can never be sure if it's going to be for the better or not."

"Oh, c'mon!" he groaned. "I had so many more questions!"

"Like what?" I said amusingly.

"Like... I dunno... how many children am I going to have in the future?"

By those mere words, my heart sank and my smile vanished. I got my head off his lap, and stared ahead, trying to fight back the sad expression.

"What? What's wrong?" Fred frowned.

"Nothing." I shook my head, trying hard to force a smile.

I didn't want to think about it. Not now that everything was going so great as if I were dreaming my best dream.